Grant Woods


Grant Woods served as Attorney General of Arizona from 1991 until 1999. He was a supporter of John McCain in his race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination against J. D. Hayworth in 2010. Woods was McCain's chief of staff when he was a congressman.

Background and career

Grant Woods is the son of Arizona developer Joe Woods.
Woods, considered a moderate-to-liberal Republican, was attorney general from 1991 to 1999. In the 1980s, he was the first congressional chief of staff for the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and was a longtime friend and confidant of McCain's.
Grant has been elected to the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, which is limited to the top 500 trial lawyers in the world.
During the U.S. presidential election of 2016 he was the only Arizona Republican to have held high office who endorsed the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. Regarding the two presidential candidates, he wrote, "Hillary Clinton is one of the most qualified nominees to ever run for president. Donald Trump is the least qualified ever. The stakes are too high to stand on the sideline. I stand with Hillary Clinton for president."
Woods delivered a eulogy at Senator McCain's funeral in 2018.
Jon Kyl was appointed to succeed McCain, but said he would not run for re-election. He resigned in December 2018 and Governor Doug Ducey appointed Martha McSally to fill the remainder of the term. A special election will be held in 2020. Woods considered running for the seat as a Democrat, however he announced on February 8, 2019 that he would not seek election to McCain's former senate seat in 2020 to avoid campaigning against other Democrats, stating that "Democrats are not the problem."

Electoral history